The stand flammability classes

Abstract

The fire risk classification now applied in Poland to forest areas is based on the frequency of fire outbreaks and the stand-related, climatic and anthropogenic conditions. The minimum area for which the forest risk category is determined is the area of a forest district (on average seventeen thousand five hundred ha), which reaches a maximum area of up to thirty-odd thousand hectares. The classification enables the determination of the fire risk for a county, sub-region or province, or the Regional Directorate of State Forests. Thus, this method enables identification of the potential fire risk on the macro scale. However, it is impossible to identify the fire risk on the micro scale. The classification of stand flammability according to forest habitat types, which has been developed as a result of the implementation of the project and fuel models, shall enable the mapping of forests in terms of their fire characteristics at the sub-compartment level.